Dementia: Neighbor’s Ordeal Was Eye-Opener for Donna
When asked about a memorable senior-care experience, Home Instead® Care Professional of the Month Donna Anderson chose an unusual situation that took place before she joined Home Instead of Mount Airy. It involved a neighborhood friend with dementia and law enforcement intervention. In the end, Donna felt good about being trusted in a time of need, and the incident provided an insight to dealing with dementia behavior.
Setting the scene, Donna said: “I experienced my first really close-up view of Alzheimer’s. My neighbor, in her 80s, had many of the signs. As buddies, we’d go places, like short trips to Wendy’s. I informally provided occasional companionship like a family caregiver. She was changing and knew it. She’d come to my house and cry, saying, ‘I can’t remember things.’ Since we’re Christians, I said, ‘We need to lean on God. Let’s put this in God’s Hands.’ I couldn’t lie to her and tell her everything would be OK. She knew I was there for her, and she trusted me.”
One day, when two family members were at the neighbor’s house and discussing care for her, she wandered off unnoticed. She walked up a main road, and an alert motorist sensed something was wrong. That person got Donna’s neighbor into her car and drove her to a convenience store about a mile away, where the sheriff’s department was called.
Donna said: “To my surprise, a sheriff’s deputy gave my neighbor a ride to my house. The deputy had talked with the family members, and my neighbor said she wanted to spend the night with me. The deputy inquired, and I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ The deputy smiled and thanked me. My neighbor said she was special because she’d gotten to ride with the deputy, and she also said, ‘I got my way. I’m staying with you tonight.’ ”
Donna’s neighbor later moved to a memory-care unit. “I think of her often. I have visited her, but she doesn’t remember me,” Donna said. The trust Donna had built with her neighbor is not unlike the bonds she has created in her three total years and two stints with Home Instead. In June 2022, Home Instead Staff Coordinator Sharon Bledsoe announced Donna had been honored as a Care Pro of the Month. Van and Ann Lankford have owned the award-winning Home Instead franchise for more than 11 years, and they were eager to spotlight Donna’s compassionate care for their clients with the employee award.
For her part, Donna said: “I like working with the Home Instead office staff and enjoy our relationship. They are very nice people to work with. If I have a question, the office always responds. They try to get me hours when they are available.”
Donna added: “Professional senior care is a relatively new undertaking for me, but taking care of people is not. I’ve been in and out of working and managing child-care services since I was 18. In fact, my grandmother and I ran a child-care service. She was 72 at the time; she’s now 100 and lives in a care community. Of course, I’ve sat with the elderly a lot – including that neighbor who has dementia – and I eventually found I do better now with taking care of seniors. It is inevitable that children pass illnesses, and that’s a problem for a person when you get older.”
Donna has helped one of her regular clients for about a year and enjoys their time together, shifts that include weekday afternoons. “She is sharp and a very sweet lady. She always took care of her family and is used to taking the lead and being on the go, so she putters around the house and doesn’t want to sit down. She’s on a walker and has been through PT. I have to remind her to take it easy and put her feet up. I run a lot of errands. She prefers to remain home, so she watches TV, including Fox News, ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ and ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ when she settles in,” Donna said.
For Donna and every other Care Pro, each day often brings new challenges. An Alzheimer’s client once turned the tables on Donna during a personal-care request, and Donna admitted she had to chuckle. “I tried to get her to shower. She was a nice lady, a good client. But I ran into a problem when I tried to get her to shower. I got everything ready for her and told her, ‘We need to take a shower,’ meaning her. She said, ‘You first.’ I never got in the shower with her, and it took a little while to get her in there. I’ve been more careful with word selection,” Donna said.
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (336) 789-4472 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
